Solar energy news? Yup, we’ve got that. We’ll spare you the banter today, and skip right to the chase:

One of the merits of rooftop solar installations is that they don’t eat up land that could be otherwise be put to good use. USA Today ran a piece yesterday about how Southern California Edison (SCE) is “blanketing roofs with solar panels.” What makes SCE’s program unique? SCE owns the panels, but not the roofs: “Traditionally, utilities have looked to other companies to build solar power plants and sell the power to them. But with Edison’s rooftop project, it’ll own the solar and pay the warehouse owners to rent the space. The power will flow to Edison’s grid and serve all kinds of customers, maybe even the building from which it came.” Granted, if you’re a homeowner in say, a San Diego, it likely still makes sense for you to install (and own) solar panels on your own roof. But for businesses that don’t want to take on any new assets, SCE’s program may offer a straightforward alternative: steady lease income.

GreenFinanceSF — San Francisco’s new program for financing the installation of solar panels and energy- and water-efficiency upgrades — kicks off today, via SFGate. Want to know more? We answer all the big, burning questions here.

The Maryland House voted over the weekend to require utilities to boost the amount of solar energy in their power supply, via the Maryland Post. Backed by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, the solar power provision also increases penalties for utilities that fail to meet their renewable energy obligations. The House version will have to be reconciled with the Senate version before the measures become law.

In New Jersey solar news, Dow Jones & Company has plans to do a big solar installation at its corporate offices in central New Jersey, via MarketWatch. At just over four megawatts, the solar PV system would be one of the largest installed at a single commercial site in America. From the press release: “The design calls for more than 13,000 solar panels covering nearly 230,000 square feet of parking space on Dow Jones’s Bernard Kilgore campus in South Brunswick. The system is expected to produce the equivalent of 5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, energy to power the servers and computers that support the global operations of Dow Jones.”

groSolar, a solar panel installation firm, will sponsor a bunch of dudes on bicycles, according to Today’s Energy Solutions. It’s not clear whether the MetLife Cycling Team will don jerseys emblazoned with the company logo.

Last Tuesday, San Diego celebrated the commissioning of a brand-new 945-kilowatt solar power system at the city’s Otay Mesa Water Treatment Plant, via Arleen Garcia-Herbst of the San Diego Democrat Examiner. This latest San Diego solar installation brings the city one step closer to its goal of having by 2013 five megawatts of solar installed on city properties.

Finally today — and also in California solar news — check out this article from the North County Times about solar energy in the classroom. Carlsbad High School, on California’s southern coast, is offering a science class that provides students with a “mixture of science lessons and hands-on learning,” according Principal Maggie Stanchi. Here’s more from the article:

The class is an offshoot of a renewable energy club started at the school last year. [Teacher John] Alexander was able to start the class in August with the help of a grant from NRG Energy, which owns the Encina Power Station in Carlsbad. Other businesses have donated time and materials. … Through lessons about energy, students learn plenty about physics and science, Alexander said.

In sum, this is a story about young people studying renewable energy for a better tomorrow. They’re working to improve the outlook for a generation that doesn’t even exist yet! What could be more inspiring?! If this doesn’t warm your heart on this Monday morning, nothing will…

Thanks for reading. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.